Aging is hard for many, and this is no different for the Carroll freshman center. Originally built in 1987, the Carroll freshman center first served as a middle school for younger children to transition into high school. While the goal of the CFC has kept the same purpose as a high school transition, it has been through a lot in its 35 years. This has led to some wear and tear that has become more noticeable in recent years, and because of this many repairs are scheduled to take place this summer.

One instance of this is the two-by-four ceiling tiles that have started to fail.

“The older style of squares are two by four,” Said Principal Brandon Bitting, “And we come to find out over time, those four-foot ceiling tiles tend to get a SAG to them.”

This can be found in several places in the CFC, as well as in the fieldhouse area.

“I have not been in many other classrooms but I know that there’s a space in the hallway,” Said Freshman teacher Anna Jernigan, “And we have some other spots like our back room where our supplies are kept.”

These don’t stop at just sagging either, sometimes they collapse or come close to breaking.

“There was an incident where it was my third-period biology class, and the ceiling was about to give out,” said freshman Stefanie Bareng. “The water in the ceiling was too full. It was about to give out.”

This could distract students from focusing on work, and if the tile breaks, it could allow water to leak into the classrooms. This could lead to water falling on students, papers, and whatever else may be below the absent tile. This has led to some teachers coming up with temporary solutions.

“We just have a bucket underneath to catch any extra water because there is a leak in the roof,” said Jernigan. While this works,

for the time being, a more permanent solution will come after the school year.

“Now, the good news is all the work that we’ve done during the summer,” said Bitting. “The biggest thing that will happen is summer school will be on the 10-12 side of the building this summer.”

This solution will be selecting a few classrooms and upgrading several elements of the room year by year until they are all updated.

“Part of our three-year plan as we keep building it is to try to cycle into rooms,” said Bitting, “And what we’ve been trying to do is carpets and lights and ceiling tiles and paint and try to do the room at the same time. “

While some rooms get upgraded another big project will be taking place in the CFC over the summer, this being an attempt to find and fix the plumbing issues that have been occurring.

“So there actually have been some, I would say, plumbing issues,” said Bitting. “A large part of the issue would be just the aging of the infrastructure of some of the pipes, and so we have started the process to make some improvements.”

The goal is to fix the plumbing while it still mostly functions, instead of waiting until it no longer works at all. This will be done over the summer by an outside company.

“That’s going to actually require cutting, cutting into the floor in the areas that we’re going to need to replace the line,” said Bitting. “It’s going to be a pretty involved process. “

However, until summer, students and staff will just have to deal with both the plumbing issues and the ceiling tiles.

“It is a matter of urgency,” said Bareng, “They [students and staff] can wait it out.”